Indy Power Rankings for the Week of May 4th, 2015

#1 Drew Galloway (@GallowaySpeaks)-Can anyone stop Galloway at this point? He just continues to win, collect, and defend titles. On top of that, he has been collecting VERY high rankings to make sure that he stays in the hunt for the #1 spot in the 2015 IPR 100. While Akira Tozawa has been dominant and looked to be the man that couldn’t be stopped, Galloway is the one who has been the hottest over the last few months. With 6 titles to his credit, if he can continue to win and defend, is there really anyone that can claim to have had a better 2015 than him? With 8 months to go and FOUR #1 rankings to his credit thus far, we’ll see what happens.

#2 People’s Champ. Mary Elizabeth Monroe (@WrestlerMEM)-The VOW Queen of the Ring for 2015 finds her way into the Indy Power Rankings for the very first time as she called her shot several weeks ago on the Tag Team Top 5 Reveal and then came through with a huge tournament victory. She defeated Vanity in the VOW Queen of the Ring Tournament, then beat Brittany Blake, Samantha Heights, and Angel Dust in a Fatal Four Way to win the tournament. After being added to the poll a little later than some others, she came back in a HUGE way as she collected 194 votes to win the online voting competition which jumped her from #3 to #2 this week. Long live the Queen! Cheap plug, you can go back and listen to her interview where she talked about the VOW Queen of the Ring & more here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/elitepodcastnetwork/2015/04/08/indy-power-rankings-tag-team-top-5-reveal-ft-mary-elizabeth-Monroe

#3 Shingo Takagi-After having a fantastic year in tag team wrestling, this Dragon Gate star makes a big appearance in the singles Top 10 and his very first this year. One of the best talents in Japan has been notably absent from any big singles wins until this week where he branched out and really picked up some strong momentum. He teamed with Masato Yoshino at Dragon Gate on 4/27 to defeat Jimmyz (Jimmy Kanda & Ryo Jimmy Saito), then defeated Jimmy Kagetora on 4/29, then defeated Mr. Quu Quu Naoki Tanizaki Toyonaka Dolphin on 5/2, and then teamed with BxB Hulk on 5/3 to defeat Akira Tozawa and Kzy to go 4-0 for the week. If he can continue this win streak, he’ll be a strong contender for the rest of 2015.

#4 RIP-This is a name that comes completely out of left field as the NEW IPW South Pacific Champion grabs his very first ranking this week. He won the title tournament when he defeated Sledge Hammer in the first round, then defeated Troll in the quarterfinals, then beat BJ Blade in the semi-final, and then beat Poison to win the title. This all took place on 5/2 in Australia. It’s impressive to go 4-0 in an entire week, but even more impressive to do it all in one night. After running the gauntlet, we get one of the highest rankings yet for an Australian talent, proving that the Land Down Under continues to churn out some unsung talent.

#5 Daisuke Sekimoto-One of the best death match wrestlers in the entire world gets a #5 ranking this week as the Big Japan Strong World Heavyweight (and ½ of the KO-D Tag Team Champions) went 3-0 on the week. He defeated Hideyoshi Kamitani at BJW on 4/28, then teamed with Yuji Okabayashi at DDT on 4/29 to defeat Team Dream Futures (Keisuke Ishii and Shigehiro Irie) to retain the titles, and then teamed with Kazuki Hashimoto at NOAH on 4/30 to defeat MAYBACH Taniguchi and Maybach #2. Great week for him as he’s really starting to build some momentum for the first time this year in singles.

#6 Josh Alexander (@Walking_Weapon)-Perhaps the biggest single win of the entire weekend came when Josh Alexander dethroned Eddie Kingston for the AAW Heavyweight Title in a 3 Way, also involving Samoa Joe. A victory, no matter how you get it, over Samoa Joe AND Eddie Kingston for one of the most important titles in the United States is enough to get “The Walking Weapon” into the Top 10 on a week that was stacked with 4-0, 3-0, and 2-0 contenders for the Indy Power Rankings. ½ of Monster Mafia has been having a breakout 2015 and we expect that to continue going forward.

#7 Ron Mathis (@RonMathis13)-It may have been a week of what could have been for Ron Mathis as he DID win the 2015 Masters of Pain, as promised on the Indy Power Rankings Reveal from last week, BUT it was his DQ loss vs. Dustin Rayz at Rockstar Pro that possibly cost the Rockstar Pro Champion the #1 spot this week. That being said, it was still a huge deal to defeat Mad Man Pondo and Matt Tremont, then Josh Crane, and finally Nick Gage to win the tournament on 5/2. You can go back and listen to Mathis’s guarantee of a victory at Masters of Pain here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/fillingthevoidrn/2015/04/28/indy-power-rankings-reveal-mop-hype-central

#8 Jason LaRusso-Despite no fan support in the online voting competition, we do get another first-timer to the Indy Power Rankings this week after LaRusso won a big tournament over the weekend. He defeated Crippler Gordon in the quarterfinals, Antonio De Luca in the semi-finals and Crusher Lomaxx in the final of the 4FW #1 contender’s tournament on 5/1 to go 3-0 for the week. LaRusso’s big tournament victory was enough to sneak him into a Top 10 with heavy competition this week, but going forward, he’s going to need to pick up more victories and perhaps get a little more fan support next time he’s on the poll if he wants to continue to get ranked.

#9 AR Fox-“The Whole Foxin’ Show” had another solid weekend as the DREAMWAVE Alternative Champion defeated GGP at ICW on 5/1 and then turned right around and beat one of the best in PJ Black at DREAMWAVE on 5/2 to retain the title. With a 2-0 weekend amongst a lot of great contenders, AR Fox returned to the Top 10 this week after a short hiatus. As stated previously, his 2014 wasn’t as impressive as his 2013, but he’s really starting to make some headway in 2015 with multiple title wins and defenses.

#10 Daisuke Harada-We get our third representative from the country of Japan this week as Harada BARELY made the cut into the Top 10 this week. He had a solid week as he teamed with Takashi Sugiura, Akitoshi Saito and Genba Hirayanagi at NOAH on 4/28 to defeat Super Crazy, Mitsuhiro Kitamiya, Ken-o and Hajime Ohara, then teamed with Takashi Sugiura and Genba Hirayanagi on 4/29 to defeat Chris Hero, Colt Cabana and Jack Gamble, and then defeated Hitoshi Kumano on 4/30 to go 3-0 for the week.